I am realizing that I don’t know everything.

For years, probably since I’ve been driving, I’ve assumed that the correct way to approach a lane-closed merge is to move over as quickly as possible to avoid a bottleneck at the actual merge point. Then I saw a news report on television about something called a “zipper merge.”

It caught my attention because I always got ticked when people try to wait until the last second to merge into the “main lane.” Apparently, folks like me have been mucking up the system, as it’s supposed to work. You AREN’T supposed to merge early, but you actually should change lanes at the point of the merge.

So, to all the people I’ve given dirty looks and created a rolling roadblock for, I’m sorry. I was wrong.

If you check ask.metafilter.com, I think Jacquilynne puts it best in this quote:

Assume the lines each have one hundred cars in them. If you shuffle merge at the last point, everything is even.

But you, being the eager beaver that you are, moved over somewhere a mile before that point. Now line 1 has 101 cars in it, and line 2 has only 99. Because you’ve been in the line for awhile, when you get to the front, you have to let someone from line 2 shuffle merge in front of you, meaning that two cars got over from 1 to 2 in the space where only one should have. Plus, though, the guy who let you in now has to let another person in. That’s three! Three cars where only one would otherwise have merged.

It doesn’t take a lot of early movers before lane 2 is emptying out faster than water bucket at the OK corral.

I’ve never heard anyone else give an argument FOR the zipper merge before this TV show. Where do people actually learn this? Was I asleep during that lesson of Driver’s Ed?

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I usually don’t do “Song Stories” posts for songs that I haven’t released yet, but I wanted to give a little preview of some music that’s coming soon.

Last year I was visiting my parents in Indiana, USA. The trip is usually a good chance to catch up and often I binge on cable television. There was a special on TV by Ripley’s Believe it or Not or something like that. The story was about the world’s tallest man. He’s not the guy in China anymore. Bao Xishun had that recognition for years, but recently, a gentlemen named Leonid Stadnyk was discovered in the Ukraine who stands an impressive 8 feet, 5 inches tall. That’s about 5 inches taller than most home ceilings.

The story explained that Bao received a lot of recognition when he was named tallest living man several years back. Consequently, he decided to use his fame to help find a wife. After sending marriage advertisements around the world, he took a bride from his hometown in China.

Fast forward to Mr. Stadnyk. In the TV show I was watching, they said that Leonid (unmarried at the time) was quite camera-shy and didn’t want any attention. But, for some reason, he decided to finally agree to an interview. I imagined that maybe Leonid has gotten lonely and maybe he felt like granting an interview might improve his odds of finding a companion.

I don’t want to be the subject of your TV show
A spectacle for all to see
But if by chance my one true love is watching now
She should know where to find me

The song is pretty upbeat and I’m really excited about the rough tracks we’ve put together in the studio recently. I’ll share a sneak preview when I’m able. I’m still planning to try to release my CD this winter. More details to come!

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When was the last time you let YouTube take you back to a memory from childhood that you haven’t visited since then? I did it today.

I actually felt like a little kid watching this, for the first time, probably, since the days when it was a daily routine to see it. And I think it also reminded me why I like just about any movie with Morgan Freeman.

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I was explaining to someone last week about how I came to take my current job living abroad. I mentioned that my father was quite intentional about teaching my siblings and I about finding work that was satisfying and not just a paycheck. This very practical lesson came from my dad’s decades of experience working at a factory that made parts for General Motors vehicles. When I got to that part of the story, my friend Raymond said, “Wow, that must be really exciting–working in a car factory.”

I think this is the first time since I was a small child that the idea of making cars seemed exciting again. Not that each part of the process is fun. It’s not. My dad worked in a department that manufactured springs for awhile. I can’t even tell you where in your car you’d find any springs, but my dad took care of their production for at least part of his time there.

The conversation got me thinking about job satisfaction and attitude, though. What is your job? What is the bigger plan that you’re a part of? Is it possible that it’s more exciting than you think? To me, process and big picture are satisfying concepts.

Most of us probably aren’t in our dream jobs. We might not be doing that one thing we feel like we’re made for. But how are you passing the meantime? Are you longing for what’s next or making the most of the present?

Here’s my advice. Don’t ignore today because you’re waiting for something better. After all, maybe you’re really in an exciting job and someone just needed to remind you.

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Today I’m watching national news coverage of the events from 7 years ago. I have to admit to being a little surprised at how emotional I STILL get watching footage and seeing friends and family read the seemingly endless list of names.

This image is what things looked like from space that day.

I know there have been worse disasters in the history of this earth, but none that were the result of terrorist activity. Hopefully we’ve seen the worst.

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Don LaFontaine was an institution of the industry and he passed away a couple days ago at age 68. As a audio production professional and even as a movie fan, I found this guy’s voice inspiring on a couple different levels.

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